Some Manly Projects

Nate has been one busy beaver.

Two manly projects he has conquered:

a)installing a ceiling fan: he called our electrician to do it, but one night he went for it and GOT IT DONE. It was a smidge scary because all over the instruction manuals, it basically says "do this wrong and you'll get seriously injured or die". Um, what. Thanks electricity. AND Nate is color blind... so hooking up the blue wire to the green wires and NOT the black wires... yeah, that was a good time too... But enough of that, he got it done AND it hasn't fallen yet! Hooray!

b)fixing up our guest bathroom closet. This part of our house is from the '50s, and when the owner before us fixed it up, they pretty much skimped on this area. Thanks. So there were lots of cracks in the drywall and the musty scent from the attic was invading our entire front portion of the house. Yuck. Nate used tape and mudding to patch up these spots, and then used textured spray paint to spray over the area. A little bit of sanding and new paint: the closet will look pretty slick.

It is so exciting to a DIY man in the house! I'd like to think I'm handy too... but I'm not. It's not my gift. I'll stick to organizing, arranging, and decorating :)

Friday Favorites

I know, I know. I haven't done a REAL post in such a long time. I'm lame. And really have zero excuse. I've been keeping up with my teacher blog, but I need to pay attention to this ol' thang too! Nate's completed some fun manly projects around the house, so I will share those soon too.

Now, on with the FF post!

1. Dairy Queen Blizzards

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We have a Dairy Queen in town, which I am so happy about because there were NO DQs in the town we lived in before now! Their food is meh, but their Blizzards... YUM! My favorite is the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough... So good! It's full of calories and all sorts of sugar, but if you have them in moderation, it is good with me- and by moderation, I mean once a week :)


2. Moms

My mom visited us this weekend! We have a HUGE flea market/antique sale (Warrenton/Round Top) going on near us and in the fall, it was so fun! It is back for its spring sale and we went yesterday. I came home with a few glass bottles, a green thing for spring decor, some scrabble letters/letter die for future projects, a wrought iron swirly thing for above our bed, and I think that's it. It's so nice to have a mom who is involved in your life and unconditionally loves you and you can call her your best friend :)


3. Zoo

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I took my class (18 five and six year olds), along with my aide and 12 (holla) chaperones to the zoo on Friday! It was so fun! The zoo is one of my absolute favorite places. The animals are just so fun: it literally freaks me out that all of these animals are right in the middle of the city! So fun! The kids had a great time, we didn't lose anyone, and the weather was nice :)


4. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

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My HTC Inspire Android (name dropping, forgive me) has a Reader App on it. One of the free books it came with was "Alice's Adventure in Wonderland". Alice in Wonderland is probably on my top 5 of favorite Disney classic movies. I watched it CONSTANTLY when I was younger! Sure, it was weird, but I really liked it. Seeing the book on my phone for FREE made me so excited! I've never read it before, so when I get a chance, I can read it :) So fun.


5. Planners

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I am an organization kind of gal. Planners, color-coding, labels... All these things make me happy. What doesn't make me happy is when people (ahem, doctor offices) stray from their schedules and CANCEL ON YOU. Sheesh, isn't that the point of planners? Anyhoo, I enjoy getting to scratch things off my to-do list in my planner, write down important dates/events/schedules, and highlighting in various colors for more organization. If you came to my classroom, you probably wouldn't be able to see that much organization, but I promise it's there! I'll get on it this summer :)

Have a great week everyone!

Friday Favorites

Here's another installment of Friday Favorites :)

1. FRIDAYS  

Enough said. It was one of those weeks at school. We didn't get our spring break... and we probably could have used it. Ours starts on Good Friday... About a month away... So I was very thankful for 3:30pm on Friday afternoon.

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2. Uncle Sam. We received our tax refund yesterday!!! WAHOO! Needless to say, many jobs will be getting done around the house :) Stay tuned!

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3. Secrets from a Stylist. I watched "Design Star" and I was totally rooting for Emily the entire time. Now that she has her own show, of course I watch it too! It's one of my top 3 favorites on HGTV because her show is ALL about styling and decorating: not like the other HGTV shows that have personal carpenters to build amazing pieces... like I could ever do anything like that in real life. So Emily, I thank ya :)

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4. The HTC Android Inspire phone. YES, Nate and I traded in the ol' iPhone for an Android! We are so STOKED about this phone. We went back and forth between this phone and the iPhone 4G. They basically have the same capabilities (my essentials: calling/text capabilities, Facebook, e-mail, camera/video, map/navigation system), only the iPhone is laid out more simply (and more boring, snore). This phone is so sleek and sophisticated, so technologically savvy. It rocks. ANDDD I can check my blogs on it MUCH more easily and quickly! That's always a plus.

5. My husband. He's awesome. He takes care of me. He teaches me how to be a grown up. He loves me unconditionally. He makes me laugh. He is awesome. Love him.

Friday Favorites

I'm going to start a new blog series called "Friday Favorites". I've seen some varieties over blogland of "Things I'm Loving" etc. Here goes my soapbox... :)

This all started from a drama my youth group did like 10 years ago (when I was in middle school- I think, but my brother was in the high school choir that did this drama... maybe that's why I remember). Anyhoo, this drama started out with various high schoolers in a dialogue that went sorta like this:

1- Hey, I went to this pizza place last night.
2- Oh my gosh, I LOVEEEE their pizza! It's so good!
1- I know right! It's the best thing ever.
3- Hey what are y'all doing?
1 and 2- Oh my gosh, I LOVEEE your sweater!!!

etc. and so on.

Do you notice something? The drama went on to explain how we use the word "love" so freely, especially with materialistic things that are obviously not going to love us back. It continued to talk about the three types of love from the Bible, and how God's love for us is so powerful: we cannot even begin to comprehend. How can we use this same word to describe a sweater or food?

I've been feeling somewhat convicted of this: of using the word "love" too loosely, especially for materialistic things. I've been trying to say "enjoy", "adore", "like" instead of love. Please don't take offense to this if you say the word "love" like I described above: this is simply my blog and things that I have been thinking about and/or feeling. This is in no way a directional shot at anyone. This isn't to say I'm being perfect about it: I still catch myself saying "love" every once in a while. I'm working on it.

So here is where this "series" comes into play. It's called "Friday Favorites", basically things that I have been enjoying through the week. So- enough with the to-do's, here are mine for the week!

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1. Tote bags! These things are so efficient, especially for teachers. I have a similar damask pattern bag to this one above, but I got mine at DOLLAR GENERAL for $4, holler! I take it back and forth to school, carrying anything from papers, lesson planner, teacher manuals, my lunch, wallet, keys, etc. The huge size makes for a practical bag choice for a teacher, and the pattern is fun too!

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2. My Sirius radio. My husband will tell you otherwise, but I really do use it! Scratch that, I actually listen to it more at HOME on our Dish Network while I'm online or cleaning/organizing (my commute to work is 30 seconds, so I don't really have the time to enjoy it in the car). Zero commercials? Yes please. Favorite stations are The Pulse (basically pop music from the past decade), The Message (Christian), and The Highway (country). Oh how awesome it would be if they had a Texas Country station. Randy Rogers? Eli Young? Yes please.

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3. My Tervis Tumbler cup! I have 3: one that has a black "C" on it that I purchased myself, the one pictured above (from a student for Christmas), and a leopard print one (from another student for Valentine's day: my class sure does know my taste)! Because I have 3, I keep one at the school and I refill my water every morning and every day at lunch. One thing you may not know about me: I only drink water. I mean, I'm not one of those people who likes to drink water. It's ALL. I. DRINK. I crave water. It's what I like to drink when I'm thirsty, with meals, or just to have. Even during winter, my co-workers could not BELIEVE I wasn't filling up on coffee. Gag. And my Tervis Tumbler doesn't leave a puddle of condensation on my teacher table :) Hooray for that.

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4. This clutch :) My mama bought it for me last weekend at the UT-Austin Co-Op (of all places). We are big Longhorn fans: my brother went there and graduated in '06 and I almost went there: I got accepted into my school, had a start date, my major lined up: my brother, however, swayed me.... "Chrissy, I'm not sure if you'll like it... it's really big. And people here are different... and mean. And you're sweet and conservative. I mean, I'll be here and we'll have fun, but I'm just not sure you'll like it." So I listened and went to DBU instead (which was SUCH a better choice: I mean, I met my husband, ch-ello)! Anyways, back to the clutch: anytime my family is in Austin, we usually stop at the Co-Op to update our Longhorn attire. This clutch is a good way to sport my burnt orange pride. And to those of you who think that if you didn't go to that school, you can't cheer for them.... Honestly, find something else to complain about. I can be a Longhorn fan all I want: sorry my university didn't have a football team: another soapbox for another day :) 

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5. Yumm-o 100 Calorie Mini Fudge Striped Cookies! I won't write a long, detailed description of these... They're just delicious. And 100 calories. Athankyou :)

Sorry this turned into a long rant/detailed description/rambling post: when you have the night to simply enjoy at home, it lets your writing bug escape :) Happy weekend!

Entry Art

(I borrowed this idea from somewhere and I have NO idea where: if it was you, please let me know so I can give you credit!)

This is a great way to keep your entry updated with the seasons and different occasions that happen throughout the year (it's straight and level, I promise! I take crooked pictures...)

Where I originally saw this, it was made with wood pieces. Well- I didn't have any wood pieces around, but I did have cork squares :) To do this, you need photo corners (which is something you would use for scrapbooking). Thanks to my aunt who completely purged her scrapbook supplies over Christmas and gave me practically everything, I now have some :)

I measured my paper out, put the photo corners in the correct spots, and I was all set!

It brings those pops of color that we are wanting! My entry before was alllllll brown, black, beige (which are awesome, but we are wanting some pizazz). When I'm ready, I can totally pop those sheets out and add new ones! I could make scrapbook pages with photos, quotes, sayings: great for updating with seasons and holidays!

Thank you to whoever gave me this idea!!! :)

Getting Organizeeddddd (Pantry)

Hello!

Today was another lazy Saturday at the Johnson household, so while Nate was working on seminary stuff, I decided to tackle our pantry. Our pantry is t-i-n-y, and we are hoping to turn a half bath into a GINORMOUS pantry, but we will see when that happens :)

First, I decided which "groups" to have. I had already arranged my pantry this way, but some things were overflowing into other areas... which I am not a fan of: I like things to have a specific spot :) so I also "cleansed" our pantry (i.e. checked expiration dates and if we never ate it) and threw things out. It was so refreshing! Nate was pretty amazed.

Using my Silhouette, I made some prettyyy cute labels. Our kitchen is lacking in the color department: I originally wanted a grey and yellow kitchen, but there's not much yellow going on... I need to update our accessories. So I used yellow and black scrapbook paper as the backing of my labels. I then wrote each category and away I went to labeling!

I also labeled our clear plastic containers that hold tea, drink mixes, flour, and sugar.

An example of a shelf label: all iPhone photos, sorry :)

An organized shelf!

And the entire thang :) So pretty! Don't mess it up, Nate! (just kidding, he's about the same about of OCD as I am)

Linking up!